A's News Clips, Tuesday, July 19, 2011 Inside the Mind of Oakland
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A’s News Clips, Tuesday, July 19, 2011 Inside the mind of Oakland A's manager Bob Melvin By Mark Emmons, San Jose Mercury News Superstitions might be part of baseball's cultural fabric, but A's interim manager Bob Melvin obsesses over more than his fair share. He keeps careful track of everything from the route he drives to the ballpark and the pen he uses to write out the lineup card to even the number of stadium steps he runs each day. Melvin faithfully will repeat the routines when his team wins and alter them when they lose. So he has done plenty of tinkering with those rituals during his brief tenure in Oakland. That's because the A's are 15-18 under Melvin since he replaced Bob Geren last month. And that means his candy superstition remains a work in progress. "I'll have a certain amount of candies in my pocket, and I'll eat one at a certain time of the game," Melvin said. "When we lose, maybe I'll take out a candy or add one. Obviously, it doesn't have anything to do with the outcome of the game, but somehow in my mind it does." Melvin knows how crazy that must sound. But actually his grounded, cerebral mindset is the reason why general manager Billy Beane pegged Melvin as the man to steady the ballclub. Even though the A's often can be infuriating, don't expect dugout tirades from the even-keel Melvin. His managerial style is all about maintaining a positive clubhouse vibe. "Baseball is hard enough," said Melvin, a 49-year-old Menlo Park native. "It already can be a negative game. Players want to feel like the manager is behind them. That's what I'm all about." There have been a lot more negatives than positives in Oakland this season. The A's (42-54) began the year with high expectations but currently find themselves in the American League West cellar. They will have to catch fire just to post their first winning season since 2006. The team's anemic hitting (. 236 batting average) and erratic fielding (75 errors) rank among the worst in the majors. They have combined to spoil the efforts of a resilient pitching staff (3.10 ERA) that has overcome debilitating injuries. On the surface, exchanging one Bob for another Bob has accomplished little. The team's inherent problems might be beyond any manager's ability to rectify. But the players say there has been a difference under Melvin. "He's the perfect manager for us right now," All-Star pitcher Gio Gonzalez said. "He brings life to the organization. He's one of those guys you play hard for every single minute of every single day. He's always giving you credit, working with you, and you know he's always on your side." Conor Jackson, who played for Melvin in Arizona, said no manager ever will be loved by all 25 players. But Melvin comes close. "He's extremely likable," Jackson said. "He's definitely a player's manager." And, Jackson added, he also can be fun to watch as the A's catch on to his quirky rituals. "He definitely likes the dugout clean," he said. "You'll see him walking up and down the dugout during games, picking up stuff. When a guy gets a hit, he'll make sure to keep standing in the same spot." There's a method to the madness: Keeping his mind occupied. A Menlo-Atherton High graduate who played one season at Cal, Melvin said he has learned over the years about the importance of staying levelheaded throughout baseball's highs and lows. A catcher for seven teams over 10 seasons in the majors, he won 93 games in his managerial debut with Seattle in 2003 but was fired the next year after the Mariners lost 99. Melvin got another crack in 2005 with an Arizona ballclub coming off a 51- 111 season. He led the Diamondbacks to the National League West crown in 2007, earning him Manager of the Year honors. But he got pink-slipped early in the 2009 season amid friction with then-G.M. Josh Byrnes -- a firing many observers believe set the franchise back years. The team basically acknowledged its mistake by rehiring Melvin this May as an adviser. The A's, though, gave Melvin a chance to get back into the dugout. He has preached patience with the hitters, saying the bats will wake up. (They did in Sunday's 9-1 victory over Anaheim, their third win in four games.) He even claims to like playing at the dreary, underpopulated Oakland ballpark. You can't get much more upbeat than that. He and his wife now make their home in New York, where daughter Alexi is a budding actress. For the next couple of months, Melvin has his own audition for Oakland's permanent job. "Whether you have a three-year contract or a three-month contract, you still have to prove yourself every day," he said. "There's always somebody knocking on the door wanting your job in baseball. The interim tag doesn't affect the way I go about my business." Or how he goes about his superstitions. The art of keeping baseball fans safe By Daniel Brown, Oakland Tribune Whenever Giants outfielder Aaron Rowand finishes his warm-up tosses between innings, he flings the ball into the stands. It looks like an absent-minded goodwill gesture. In truth, it's as carefully executed as a throw to home plate. "If you watch, I never throw it to the railing. I throw it to the middle of the crowd," Rowand explained as the Giants prepared for a six-game home stand. "You lob it. You don't fire it in there because you don't want to hurt anybody. "And you make sure everybody in the area is looking at you when you throw, so nobody gets blindsided in the side of the head." Like so many others in the baseball community, Rowand is heartbroken for Texas outfielder Josh Hamilton, whose act of kindness set off a tragedy at Rangers Stadium on July 7. Shannon Stone, a 39-year-old firefighter, fell over a railing while trying to catch a ball flipped to the stands by Hamilton, the All-Star outfielder. In the wake of the accident, major league teams are reviewing stadium safety. Rangers spokesman John Blake told the Dallas Morning News that the team is meeting with contractors, architects and other industry experts to determine "whether to raise railings or do whatever might be appropriate for the safety of our fans." Stadium officials for Bay Area teams have also reacted to the incident in Texas. Before the A's opened a series against the Angels last Friday, Dave Rinetti, the team's vice president for stadium operations gathered the guest services staff for a refresher course on monitoring fan activity near railings. Similarly, Jorge Costa, the Giants' senior vice president of stadium operations, reviewed fan safety in the game-day memos distributed to about 800 employees. Each major league team determines its own safety features based on local laws. Both the Giants and A's said their ballparks meet local codes and regulations. "But that doesn't mean we're completely extricated from worrying about things," Costa said. "This is something that consumes me and my staff every day. (The Texas) incident was supposed to be a goodwill gesture from player to fan -- a good, light moment. Obviously, what happened was the most horrible, worst-case scenario." Players, meanwhile, are also taking stock of their rituals. Colorado Rockies shortstop Troy Tulowitzki, the South Bay native, warmed up before a recent game and began to reflexively toss the ball into the stands. "But I thought twice about it. And I kept the ball in my glove," Tulowitzki told CBS Sportsline. A's reliever Brad Ziegler understands the reaction but has no plans to alter his regular habit of throwing balls into the stands. Zeigler, 31, still has all the mementos he saved from going to Kansas City Royals games as a kid. "(Fans) are the reason we play the game," he said. "We enjoy seeing fans smile, making kids happy. People take souvenirs home from the ballpark and that's something they remember." A's pitcher Trevor Cahill also enjoys tossing a keepsake into the crowd. But in the immediate aftermath of the Hamilton incident, he, like Tulowitzki, has new reservations. "I mean, I probably won't do it for a while," Cahill said. Before the All-Star Game in Phoenix last week, commissioner Bud Selig said MLB still embraces the practice of players throwing balls to fans. He called the Texas situation a "horrible accident. It's heartbreaking, it really is. It's almost beyond comprehension to believe something like that could happen." Selig said each major league team was reviewing its ballpark, especially in areas where fans could be in pursuit of a souvenir. Rinetti said that, even before the death in Texas, the A's are vigilant about safety at the Coliseum. In recent years, that has meant adding cyclone fencing to the bottom of some railings after worrying that a young child might be able to fall through. Costa said safety changes at AT&T Park over the years include a drink railing installed along the arcade section atop the right-field wall. Originally designed as an amenity, Costa discovered that the drink railing provided the added benefit of "a lot more substance and structure." Costa noted that fans have a responsibility as well.